Truth

Truth is a fickle thing. It's hardly absolute. It can change for someone as his or her perception changes.  Truth seems open to interpretation. Two people involved in the same situation may have very different truths. Neither person is right or wrong, since truth is influenced by emotion and circumstance.

This is something that is seen a lot in police work and in psychiatry. When police arrive on scene, they rush to gather factual information before our brains have time to put that information into the context of our life. Once we have time to process, the truth is tainted by our experiences. What we were certain about, we are suddenly unsure of. Psychiatrists see this truth-bending in the forms of repression, false memory, and escapism. Truths are so ugly or painful they need to be retold in a different way, or simply forgotten.

Sometimes in painful situations, your version of the truth must change to protect yourself. For your healing, your sanity, and your peace of mind, your truth morphs. The truths you never before saw suddenly come to light, and truths you knew for certain fall away, becoming lies or just plain forgotten facts. Treading through the remains of a painful situation means picking up partial truths and lies told to protect. It means traversing an emotion-laden battlefield and trying to piece those truths and lies together. It means reliving sad memories, and learning that happy ones now look like a farce.

Treading through the remains of a painful situation is a journey I'm done with. The future looks bright, and I'll keep my eyes there. The truth is, the past is the past and you can't take it back. No point in wasting energy there.